May Scripture Writing Plan: Self Control

Happy almost May sweet friends!

The scripture writing plan this month is over

something many of us struggle with:

Self Control

Self control is just flat out HARD. 

Doing what God's word says always involves a choice for us. 

And truthfully, those choices usually go against what we WANT to do. 

We don't like denying ourselves of the things we want. 

We want what we want (chocolate, a new car, new clothes, a bigger house, a better figure, 

to fight to be right, etc) and we want it right now- with NO waiting! 

Our world is full of instant gratification. 

We make excuse after excuse for why we "deserve" things or don't want to do things 

(like exercise) or have the right to be angry about things. 

We often say things in our defense like.....

"Well, that's just how I am, I can't help it. I can't resist _______ 

(fill in the blank: alcohol, sweets, gossip, drugs, chocolate, etc). "

But truthfully? That's a big old lie. 

We are children of God Almighty who was created for more. 

Satan loves to whisper lies in our ears to get us to believe him. 

God knew that we would try and fail to do things in our own power. 

With our human effort alone, and with the devil working hard to get us to fail, 

it can seem impossible to have self-control. 

Thankfully with God- all things are possible. With God, self control is possible. 

The Lord knew we would struggle with this and so thankfully there are

 many verses about self-control in God's word. 

He reminds us over and over again that we are to have self-control, 

it's even one of the fruits of the spirit. 

We just have to ask him to help us and He promises

that He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can handle.

As we chose to do what God's word says, we grow more like Him and self-control

 becomes more evident in our lives. My prayer is that these verses are a comfort 

to you when you are working to be more disciplined in any area of your life.

FYI: I made the plan 31 days and plan to do that with

all topical plans in the future so that they can be done any month-

not just the month I write them for.

TO PRINT: You can find a copy of the plan in English and Spanish in the folder HERE.

{Just a reminder, don't try to print the images below or they will be blurry. Be sure to click the link to download a PDF copy!}

Who God is

Several weeks ago I started a list in my Bible Study notebook of things I know about God. Not a list of God's names (which is also a great list to keep) but a list of things I know to be true about Him according to His word. I've so enjoyed adding to the list as I read my Bible. For each item I list a Bible verse to reference. Here's what I have so far:

Jesus is:

• Way-making
• Me-loving
• Promise-keeping
• Battle-winning
• Grace-giving
• Sin-forgiving
• Miracle-performing
• Million chance-giving
• Water-walking
• Body-healing
• Storm-stilling
• Comfort-giving
• Counsel-speaking
• Mercy Extending

I think a list like this is such a sweet reminder when we are going through something difficult or when we are struggling to remember God's goodness and faithfulness. Psalm 103:2 which says...Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me." NLT This little list is helping me do just that?

So, what would you add to the list?

God is sovereign, even in our disappointments

Life doesn’t always turn out the way we hope or envision. Sometimes we have to grieve a different ending to something in our life than the one we hoped for, dreamed for, prayed for. And it’s perfectly okay to grieve that unexpected ending that didn’t turn out the way we wanted. God understands our disappointment. I’m so thankful that a different ending than the one I had planned in my head or prayed for DOES NOT mean that God has changed His character or His mind about me. I’m reminded of this in Psalm 147:5 which says…

Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

My prayer for us today is that when we have a difficult time understanding God’s plan, we are reminded that instead of asking “Where is God in all of this?” we just need to ask God to help us see His work in the situation. That we are reminded that God’s fingerprints are all over His handiwork-even when bad, scary things happen. He can take those terrible things and redeem them until we can’t even recognize them. God is mighty and sovereign, even in my disappointments.

And if not...He is still good!

Life can be be just plain hard y’all. I seem to be in a season of life when so many around me are hurting & struggling. Friends with children and parents battling cancer, friends with serious relationship issues with those they love, friends battling addiction and big work issues, friends fighting for custody of their children and dealing with abusive and dangerous ex spouses, friends with broken and bruised hearts, friends with serious financial issues. No doubt you too can name many folks dealing with heartache and heartbreak and struggle.

I feel like I spend much of my day praying to God to comfort and care for those friends- praying that they would feel His mighty arms around them. And as I pray God draws me over and over again to my favorite verse- Daniel 3:18. Daniel 3 tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If you don't know the story, basically King Nebuchadnezzar creates a golden statue that he requires everyone to bow down to. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are respectful to Nebuchadnezzar but refuse to bow before his statue. In verses 17-18 they say..

“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Basically they are saying….God CAN save us from this but if he does not, we will still love Him and He is still good. Needless to say King Neb is NOT happy. The three are thrown into a fiery furnace, but they emerge unscathed- without a single hair on their head burnt. Nebuchadnezzar is impressed and he promotes the three to important public positions and emphatically praises their God.

I love this story because sometimes, the answers we get when we pray are hard to swallow and the road we must travel is not an easy one. Sometimes we may feel we are being dropped in a fiery furnace. BUT, regardless of the things of this world we must go through, He IS still good- even when our circumstances are not. Our circumstances are not going to change what Christ has done for us. He is still my hope, because of what He has already done, not what the circumstances are doing to me.


And if not…..He is still the King Most High.
And if not…..He still loves us more than we can ever imagine.
And if not…..He is still good.